A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today's world, written by one of America's most admired public servants, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state.

A Fascist, observes Madeleine Albright, ''is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.''

The twentieth century was defined by the clash between democracy and Fascism, a struggle that created uncertainty about the survival of human freedom and left millions of innocent people dead. Given the horrors of that experience, one might expect the world to reject the spiritual successors to Hitler and Mussolini should they arise in our era. In Fascism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright draws on her own experience as a child in war-torn Europe and her distinguished career as a diplomat to question that very assumption.

Fascism, as Albright shows, not only endured through the course of the twentieth century, but now presents a more virulent threat to international peace and justice than at any time since the end of World War II. The momentum toward democracy that swept the world when the Berlin wall fell has gone into reverse. The United States, which has historically championed the free world, is led by a president who exacerbates popular divisions and heaps scorn on democratic institutions. In many countries, economic, technological, and cultural factors are weakening the political center and empowering the extremes of right and left. Contemporary leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are employing many of the same tactics used by Fascists in the 1920s and '30s.

Fascism: A Warning is a book for our times that is relevant to all times. Written with wisdom by someone who has not only studied history but helped to shape it, this call to arms teachers us the lessons we must understand and the questions we must answer if we are to save ourselves from repeating the tragic errors of the past.

Madeleine Albright served as America's sixty-fourth secretary of state, from 1997 to 2001. Her distinguished career also includes positions at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She is a resident of Washington, D.C., and Virginia.

Bill Woodward lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Robin Blackwood, and their daughter, Mary.

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Fascism: A WarningBy Madeleine Albright

Sioux Falls Free Thinkers endorse Fascism: A Warning for warning usabout the dangerous trend towards Fascism in the United States.